Worldwide, 80 percent of the extreme poor live in rural areas. Of these, 76 percent work in agriculture, and a great share of them relies on subsistence farming.

Shocks and stresses can affect the stability of agri-food systems and push vulnerable groups reliant on agriculture into destitution and hunger, as too often they lack the means to manage risks. This calls for inclusive risk management approaches that meet the immediate needs of shock-affected populations, while addressing the root causes of risk and vulnerability to create resilient and peaceful communities. 

Social protection comprises a set of policies and programmes addressing economic, environmental and social vulnerabilities to food insecurity and poverty through preventive, protective, promotive and transformative effects for its beneficiaries.

Social protection interventions are channelled through a wide range of instruments commonly categorized under three pillars:

• social assistance
• social insurance
• labour market interventions
  

Social protection plays a key role in reducing extreme poverty and enhancing food security, while also building household’s resilience in times of shocks, and stimulating rural households to invest in agricultural production. 

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 Social protection